Fastener assembly



March 26, 1968 M. l.. sLlMovnTz 3,374,508

FASTENER ASSEMBLY Filed Sept. 2, 1966 Ffa .3

Morris L. .S7/fm ov/'z IN VE N TOR WWW -Msfgm United States Patent() 3,374,508 FAS'IENER ASSEMBLY Morris L. Slimovitz, Morris Manufacturing Co., R0. Bor,T 219, Ncwbern, Tenn. 38tl59 Filed Sept. 2, 1966, Ser. No. 576,983 Claims. (Cl. 24-3) ABSTRACT 0F THE DISCLGSURE A two member fastener assembly for attaching articles to a garment, one member including a backing plate with a loop which provides a means for retaining a safety pin therein. One surface of the backing plate includes a strip of Velcro bonded thereto. The pin may be attached to a garment thereby providing a means for swivelling the Velcro covered backing plate about the pin. This Velcro covered plate is adapted to mate with an object to which a strip of Velcro has been directly attached. Likewise, the pinned plate is adapted to mate with a second Velcro covered plate including a clip fastener attached thereto, one ann of the clip including a straight pin connected thereto which enables the connection of the second Velcro plate with a fabric-like article.

The present invention generally relates to a fastener assembly and more specifically a pin-type fastener assembly incorporating an anchor pin supportingly associated with a backing plate having a strip of fabric-like fastener material sold under the trademark Velcro attached thereto for supportingly and retentively engaging various articles to retain them in position.

An object of the present invention is to provide a fastener assembly primarily but not necessarily restricted to use in combination with a garment for securing various articles to the garment or in the pockets normally provided on the garment to prevent dislodgment or loss thereof. One example of the invention resides in the provision of a fastener assembly lfor mounting on the front of a shirt for cooperation with a similar fastener assembly atta-ched to the interior of the depending portions of a necktie for retaining the necktie in desired position.

Another embodiment of the invention resides in the provision of the fastener attached to a shirt interiorly of a shirt pocket for securing various items within the shirt pocket and against the shirt rather than the articles leading outwardly against the inner surface of the shirt pocket thus tending to bow the shirt pocket outwardly. Various other embodiments of the invention are described herein with the pin-type fastener enabling the backing plate to lbe supported in various positions to enable the pin-type fastener to be substantially permanently anchored to a supporting garment, fabric material or the like.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a pin-type fastener assembly in which the backing plate is pivotally supported from a pin-type fastener so that the backing plate may assume a substantially vertical position.

Still another important object of the present invention is to provide a pin-type fastener which is relatively inexpensive to manufacture, highly utilitarian for many diverse purposes, dependable, neat in appearance and relatively inexpensive in manufacture.

These together with other objects and advantages which will become subsequently apparent reside in the details of construction and operation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

FIGURE 1 is a front view of the upper torso area of a person employing the present invention for securing an 3,374,5@8 Patented Mar. 25, 1955 item in his shirt pocket and retaining the depending portion of his necktie in desired position;

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged front view of the shirt pocket and the article supported by the fastener assembly removed from the shirt pocket to illustrate the manner of Supporting the backing plate from the shirt;

FIGURE 3 is a vertical sectional view taken substantially upon a plane passing along section line 3 3 of FIGURE 1 illustrating the association of the article supported in the shirt pocket with the supporting plate and pin-type anchoring element;

FIGURE 4 is a perspective view illustrating the supporting lbacking plate and the pin-type fastener element;

FIGURE 5 is a detailed sectional view taken substantially upon a plane passing along section line 5 5 of FIG- URE 1 illustrating the structural details of the pin-type fastener assembly employed for holding a necktie in position; and

FIGURE 6 is a perspective view illustrating a supporting structure attached to the necktie for association with a supporting plate and pin-type anchor.

Referring now specifically to the drawings, the fastener assembly of the present invention includes two basic component parts, namely, a combined supporting or backing plate and pin-type anchor assembly generally designated by numeral 1t) anda supporting assembly generally designated by the numeral 12 in FIGURE 3 and generally designated by the numeral 14 in FIGURES 5 and 6 with it being understood that the supported assembly 12 may vary in shape, size and configuration.

Referring first specifically to FIGURES 1-4, the supporting plate and anchor assembly 10 includes a rigid backing plate or supporting plate 16 constructed of metal, plastic or the like which is illustrated of rectangular configuration but which may be of any suitable shape, size and configuration. At one edge of the plate 16 such as the top edge thereof as illustrated in FIGURE 4, the backing plate 16 is provided with a reversely folded portion 18 defining a loop 26 projecting upwardly from and generally in alignment with the top edge of the fbacking plate 16. A small safety pin type of anchoring element 22 is attached to the loop 20 by virtue of the folded portion 28 being folded over the shank 24 of the safety pin anchor element 22. At one end of the shank 24, a coil loop spring 26 is formed and extending from the coil loop 26 is the pointed shank 28 which is received in a retaining head 30 in a lconventional manner to form a conventional safetyr pin which is attached to the loop 20 so that the supporting plate 16 and the loop 20 may pivot about an axis defined by the shank 24 thus enabling the supporting plate 16 to be disposed against the surface of the shirt front 32 when the pointed shank 28 is inserted through the shirt front and engaged with the retaining head 30 in a conventional manner. As illustrated in FIGURES 2 and 3, the safety pin anchor element 22 is attached to the shirt front 32 below the upper edge of the shirt pocket forming panel 34 so that the supporting plate is completely independent of the shirt pocket panel 34 and is attached directly to the shirt front 32.

Attached to the outer surface of the supporting plate 16 is a backing strip 36 of fabric material or the like which is secured to the supporting plate 16 by any suitable manner such as a bonding adhesive or the like. Formed on the strip 36 is a plurality of loops 38 forming the Ifemale components of a fastener assembly commercially available under the trademark Velcrof This construction provides a relatively thin mounting assembly when inserted into the pocket and attached to the shirt front 32 will provide very little projection to the shirt. In fact, under normal circumstances, the relatively thin construction of the supporting assembly 10 will not be visible when observing the shirt from the front.

Various articles may be retained in theshirtpocket which is designated by the numeral 40 and is illustrated in FIGURES 1 and 3, a pair of eyeglasses,.sun glasses or the like 42 aresupported and retained within the shirt pocket 40 inwardly of the shirt pocket panel 34 and independently thereof. Attached to one of the temples 44 is a strip 46 of fabric material or the like bonded to the temple as by adhesive or the like and the external surface of the strip 46 is provided with a plurality of hooks 48 forming the male components 'of a Velcro fastener as- Y sembly. The strip 46 isvorientated on the external surface of the temple 44 so that it will not affect the normal use of the eye-glasses when they are worn and the strip 46 is disposed on the external surface ofthe temple 44 which normally overlies the other temple when the eyeglasses are folded. Thus, the fastener assembly will retain the eyeglasses in the shirt pocket 40 completely independently of the shirt pocket panel 34 and prevent the eyeglasses from bulging the shirt pocket panel 34 outwardly and also prevent loss or accidental dislodgement of the eyeglasses 42 such as when the person leans over which would normally tend to dump the eyeglasses out of the shirt pocket 40. y

In FIGURES. 1, 5 and 6, the retaining assembly 14 is illustrated for retaining the depending necktie portions 50 in overlying relation to the Shirt front 32. The supporting assembly is employed with the retaining assembly 14 including a prong member 52 having the hook or male Velcro fastener strip 54 attached thereto for detachable connect-ion with the female or loop component of the Velcro fastener assembly as illustrated specifically in FIGURE 5. Pivotally attached to the prong element 52 is a second prong element 54 each of which has projecting handles 56 and which are spring biased into adjacent relation in a manner well known in that the prong members 52, 54 and handle assembly 56 constitute a conventional clip-type fastener element. The prong 54 is modified to the Vextent of providing a projecting pin 58 rigid therewith and in alignment therewith for extending throughA all of the layers 60 of thenecktie portion 50 except for the outermost layer 62 so that the pin 58 will not be observed from the exterior of the necktie but will be effective for holding the depending portions of the necktie 50 in desired position.

Thus, by mounting the supporting assembly 22 on the shirt front 32 and then securing the retaining assembly 14 to the necktie, 50, the necktie end portions are de- -inner surface of the pocket rather than .the pocket panel which corresponds to the shirt pocket panel 34 thus enabling the device to be effectively employed with a shirt or a dress suit breast pocket or the like.

In addition to the uses illustrated in the drawings, it is pointed-out that this type of supporting assembly 10 may be used in a pocket of a pair of trousers or the like. For example, it may be employed on the inside panel of a hip pocket for retaining a wallet or purse therein. It may be used on the inside of a front pocket in trousers or the like for retaining a chan-ge purse, cigarette lighter, key case or the like therein. When the pin-type anchor element 12 is employed in the hip pocket or the like, i-t cannot be removed by exerting upward pressure thereon as would occur if a spring type clip of supporting assembly was used thus substantially eliminating the ,possibility that a person could remove a wallet from a hip pocket Without the person wearing the trousers becoming aware of such removal. Y l

The pin-type supporting assembly also may be employed with various other parts of garments especially where no pockets Iare provided. For example, Women m-ay employ the device to attach various articles to a garment such as a pouch or the like to hold glasses'and other similar articles. Also, the supporting assembly 12 may be employed in many other orientation. For example, it may be employed in a ladys handbag to retain various articles attached to the lining of the handbag. The

tachably retained in position bydetachable interengagement between the male and female components of the Velcro fastener assembly thereby retaining the necktie in a neat condition at all times.

The use of the safety pin anchoring element 22 will positively and permanently retain the supporting plate 16 within the shirt pocket 40. This is advantageous over the use of a supporting plate having a clip-type of fastener Ywhich engages the upper edge ofthe pocket panel 34 inasmuch as when the glasses are removed when a clip-type assembly Ais' employed, the clip-type of supporting plate will also =be slippedotf of the upper edge of the shirt pocket panel 34, Also, a clip-type of fastener will have a tendency to weaken after use and eventually become loose and not dependable for retaining articles in the shirt pocket especially when the shirt pocket is employed for receiving a number of articles and is engaged by various external forces. Also, the supporting plate 16 and safety pin anchoring element ismuch more desirable because it is invisible from the outside thus avoiding the objection to the use of a clip-type assembly -for supporting a plate on the shirt pocket panel which would be visible since this mars or detracts from the appearance of a person when wearing a suit or the like especially if the glasses or other article supportedris disposed in the suit coat pocket with it `being pointed out that the safety pin anchoring element may be attached to the portion of the coat forming the pin-type supporting assembly 112 may be attached to the lining of a ladys handbag and her wallet, eyeglasses, cigarette case, cigarette lighter, or various other items may be attached thereto thereby enabling such items to be securely retained within the handbag to reduce or substantially eliminate accidental loss and also to materially lreduce the possibility of unauthorized removal of such articles from the handbag even though the handbag may be opened without lthe person carrying the handbag being aware of such openings. Thus, the pin-type supporting assembly combined with the male Velcro strip attached to various articles may be eifectively employed for preventing accidental loss or theft of various articles. An addi-tional feature of the pin-type supporting assembly 12 is that it enables the positioning of the supporting plate 16 vertically in relation to the pocket so that relatively small articles maybe supported in the bottom portion of the pocket. For example, if a cigarette lighter is to be lcarried in the shirt pocket, the pin-type supporting element 12 may be oriented adjacent the ybottom of the pocket 40 as observed in FIGURE 3 thus not only retaining the cigarette lighter in place but also retaining .in a particular position in a pocket to retain the shirt front in a neater condition.

While the pin-type supporting assembly 12 has been illustrated, it is also within the purview of this invention to sew the Velcro strip to the insideV surface of the pockets in shirts, trousers, coats and the -like and also on a mans shirt collar so that the tips of the colla-r will hold down to the shirt. This may be accomplished by a sewing opera-tion -or by a bonding operation such as employing adhesive material or the like.

The foregoing is considered as illustrative'only of the principles of ythe invention. Further, since numerous modifica-tions and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and opera-tion shown and described, and accordingly all suitable modifications and equivalents may be lresorted to, falling within the scope of the invention as claimed.

What is claimed as new is as follows:

1. A rst removable fastener member adaptedv for attachment to a garment and retained in concealed relation thereon, the combination comprising, a backing plate, a loop member appending from said backing plate, a pin fastener lrotatably journalled Within said loop member, said pin fastener attachable to said garment and permitting swivelling of said backing plate about said pin fastener, said backing plate further including a peelable separable material bonded thereto, and a second fastener member mounted upon .an article independent of said garment, said second fastener assembly including a second peelable separable material adapted to coact with said first peelable separable material honderd thereto for effectuating a retention of said rst and second fastener members in overlying relation.

2. The combination set forth in claim 1 wherein said second fastener assembly includes a backing plate, a clip member, a first arm of said clip member connected to a first side of said plate, a pin, said pin connected to a second arm of said clip member, whereby said pin permits attachment of said second fastener member lto said article independent of said garment.

3. The combination set forth in claim 1 wherein said References Cited UNTED STATES PATENTS 1,109,283 9/1914 Elmore .24-49 1,227,099 5/1917 Walden 24-12 2,893,086 7/1959 Parker 24-49 3,128,514 4/1964 Parker et al. 24-204 X DONALD A. GRIFFIN, Primary Examiner. JAMES L. JONES, JR., Examiner. 

